La Voz de

E s p e ra n z a
San Anto n i o, Texas May 2004 • vol 17 issue 4

Rita Vi d a u rr i , La Calandria
Can ta p o r su p u eb l o e l 2 9 d e M a yo , 2 0 0 4
 L a VOZ de
Esperanza
© 2001 Esperanza Peace & Justice Center.
All Rights Reserved.
Editor
Gloria A. Ramírez
Layout/Design
H. Esperanza Garza
Contributors
Tammy Melody Gomez,
Bárbara Renaud González,
José Miguel Leyva, Yolanda Chávez
Leyva, Julio Noboa,
Josie Méndez-Negrete,
Nadine G. Saliba, Frank Valdez
La Voz Volunteer Collective
Fuerza Unida, MujerARTES,
Sean Danweber, Michael Marinez
y la buena gente
Esperanza Director
Graciela I. Sánchez
Esperanza Staff
Pat Benitez,
Elizandro Carrington,
Brenda Davis, Jessica Fuentes,
Joleen García, Herminia Maldonado,
Irma Mayorga, Cindy Rodríguez,
René Saenz, Christina Valero
Esperanza Board
David Zamora Casas,
Anel Flores, Amy Kastely,
Michael Marínez, Marcos Márquez,
Kamala Platt, Gloria A. Ramírez
& Rudy Rosales
________________________________
Opinions expressed in La Voz are not necessarily
those of the Esperanza. We advocate for a variety of
social, economic & environmental justice issues.
Inquiries, articles, and letters
should be addressed to:
La Voz de Esperanza,
922 San Pedro,
San Antonio, TX 78212
lavoz@esperanzacenter.org
____________________
Policy Statements:
We ask that articles be visionary, progressive,
instructive, & thoughtful. Submissions must be
literate & critical; not sexist, racist,
homophobic, violent, or oppressive. Articles
may be edited for length. All letters in
response to Esperanza activities or articles in
La Voz will be considered for publication.
Letters with intent to slander individuals or
groups will not be published.
__________________________________
a publication of
the Esperanza Center
922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212
(on the corner of Evergreen Street)
210-228-0201 • fax 210-228-0000
www.esperanzacenter. o rg
Esperanza is funded in part by the Americans for the
Arts Foundation/Animating Democracy, Astraea
National Lesbian Action Foundation, Funding
Exchange, National Endowment for the Arts, Open
Society Foundation’s Southern Initiative, Public
Welfare Foundation, Alice Kleberg R. M.
Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Southern
Funding Collaborative, Texas Commission on the
Arts, and la buena gente de nuestra comunidad.
arranging icons
En una jaula de oro, pendiente de un balcón
se hallaba una calandria, cantando su dolor
hasta que un gorrioncillo a su jaula llegó
-Si ustéd puede sacarme, con ustéd yo me voy
El pobre cómo pudo, los alambres rompió
Tan luego se dió libre, voló, voló, voló
by Tammy Melody Gomez
-canción Mexicana de los ‘50s
when the tv provokes me to place
brittany, j-lo, shakira, mad donna
Rita Vidaurri performs
at the top of the pile
on May 29th
eye avenge loss
In May, 2001, the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center as part of our Arte es Vida project
celebrated Lydia Mendoza’s 85th birthday with a reading of the then newly published i want to see deeper
book on her life, Lydia Mendoza’s Life in Music, La historia de Lydia Mendoza by Dr. so i ask:
Yolanda Broyles-González. The celebration took place at the Plaza de Zacate next to the
Mercado, downtown, and proved to be one of our most talked about events. Aside from
the reading, cantantes came to pay tribute to La Alondra de Tejas. who’s the icon on top
Among those who graciously paid tribute to Lydia in song was Rita Vidaurri, another at the tip of my tongue?
legend in her own time, whose powerful voice belied her age. Actress, musician and
i look away from the monitor
businesswoman, Rita, was born in San Antonio in a neighborhood called El Callejon de
Montezuma. She was very popular and in high demand in the mid 40s to late 50s to see how my think runs
throughout Mexico. She was also well known in Central and South America and even
toured in Cuba with “La reina, Azucar,” Celia Cruz, and the “queen of boleros,” Olga
Guillot. In addition, she performed with the likes of Tin Tán, Pedro Vargas, Trio arranging icons
Taiacuri, Lalo González (El Piporro), Cantiflas, y muchos más. Famed Mexican singer, is not a physical labor
Lorenzo Barcelata gave her his own personal, autographed guitar and baptized her with
the name of La Calandria. Throughout México, she was also known as “La Ranchera.” it is a conscious decision
Because of her popularity abroad, Rita was not and is not as well known in her own a mental desktop shuffle
hometown of San Antonio. Even though she was the official Jax Beer Poster girl in 1957!
As part of the Arte es Vida project of Esperanza that seeks to solidify the cultural
it is about refuting
grounding of the Chicano community in San Antonio by recovering cultural memory,
Rita Vidaurri, La Calandria, will be performing in a special program for the San Antonio and refusing the psychic brainwash
comunidad. It is our hope that Rita
and standard unwitting numbed-out acceptance
Vidaurri will be remembered as one of our
own Tejano queens of song with the
addition of this performance to her already
of bimbos for gods
illustrious career as a cantante. No dejen de
venir el 29 de mayo. of starlets for saints
May 29th, 2004 will be yet another
divas for devis
memorable event for Esperanza supporters.
Look for details in local newspapers or call
the Esperanza for venue and time at 228-
my icons are heroines
0201. with muscular minds
¡Besos, muchos besos, Rita!
and hands made of hammers
VOZ VISION STATEMENT: La Voz de Esperanza speaks for many individual, progressive voices who
are gente-based, multi-visioned and milagro-bound. We are diverse survivors of materialism, racism, VANDANA SHIVA
misogyny, homophobia, classism, violence, earth-damage, speciesism and cultural and political oppression.
We are recapturing the powers of alliance, activism and healthy conflict in order to achieve interdependent RIGOBERTA MENCHU
economic/spiritual healing and fuerza. La Voz is a resource for peace, justice, and human rights, providing a
forum for criticism, information, education, humor and other creative works. La Voz provokes bold actions AUNG SAN SUU KYI
in response to local and global problems, with the knowledge that the many risks we take for the earth, our
body, and the dignity of all people will result in profound change for the seven generations to come.
3
 ARUNDHATI ROY
WINONA LADUKE
HELEN CALDICOTT
FRIEDA WERDEN
BELL HOOKS
JOY HARJO
ROCKY RODRIGUEZ
PATRISIA GONZALEZ
MILLILANI TRASK
mothers with messages
saints with solutions
angry angels
forgiving fatimas
i protect my Self
steady my resolve
re-member mis madres
while arranging icons
like tiles on the banquete
a sidewalk feast
of activista footprints
(beyond Graumann’s empty soles)
on yesterday’s memory lane
and tomorrow’s Tejana turnpike
where we all can be found
walking our talk
on this path of progressive patriots
carving out from each heart of darkness
in the twenty-first century night of despair,
an illuminating, and womanly, light of repair
Tammy is an award winning poet, performer
4 and educator currently living in Dallas, Texas.
“ T h e y ’ re over the walls!”
The Alamo, Samuel Huntington, & Mexi-phobia
Yolanda Chávez Leyva and José Miguel Leyva
Part 1: Remember the Alamo
Early morning, March 6, 1836. The Texans are
surrounded. Thousands of dark skinned Mexicans are
laying siege to the Alamo. One American yells out,
“They’re over the wall!” and suddenly the scanty
gathering of white men seeking redemption and a
“second chance” in Texas are overwhelmed by masses of
indigenous faced Mexicanos. The scene, from the recently
released film by John Lee Hancock, The Alamo, exposes a
sentiment and attitude deeply entrenched in the psyche of
white America. From Harvard Professor Samuel P.
Huntington’s recent well- publicized diatribe against
Mexican immigration to the armed volunteers of Ranch
Rescue who patrol border areas against people who they
characterize as “mass numbers of criminal trespassers,”
U.S. society has been shaped by a long held fear of
Mexican immigration, rooted in the contentious
relationship between the two countries going back two
centuries. Historic episodes, such as the illegal
immigration of Anglo Americans to Texas in the 1830s,
are swept under the rug. U.S. culture is filled with the fear
of Mexicans, Mexi- phobia, which is conveyed in a myriad
of ways. The stalwart message to arms warns that for
“American civilization” to continue strong, the masses of
Mexicans must be stopped from “coming over the walls.”
Disney’s The Alamo has been touted as a new telling of
an old story and its filmmaker assures us that this version
of the Alamo presents a more nuanced version of what
happened. In part, this is true. In the film, men like David
Crocket, William Travis, and James Bowie are portrayed
more realistically with references to failed political
careers, alcoholism, philandering, and wife
abandonment. Tejano leader in the fight for Texas
independence, Juan Seguín, makes various appearances
in the film story although he plays a minor part. In fact,
the audience is not told who he is until almost the end of
the film. The audience hears small references to Tejano
fears that Americans want to “rule the world.” Yet, most
Tejanos act merely as a backdrop to the drama that is
peopled by Americans. The greatest impressions
audiences get of Mexicans are in the scenes of hundreds
of well- dressed Mexican soldiers waiting just beyond the
walls of the old mission to attack the Americans and
overwhelm them numerically. The master narrative of the
past 150 years remains in place: Mexicans are the enemy
and they are innumerable; Americans fight for freedom
and they are patriots and heroes, despite their human
frailties. “We will show the world what patriots are made
of,” announces Travis in the movie.
The official website for The Alamo features the riveting
phrase, “You will never forget. The Alamo.” In a recent
column, journalists Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto
Rodriguez ask, “So what precisely does the [film] ad
beckon us to remember? The death and martyrdom of
Texans and Americans? The dastardly deeds of
Mexicans?” The answer is “yes.” However admirable the
intentions of the current filmmakers to present a more 5
 balanced picture, in the end the message remains
fundamentally the same as the 1960 John Wayne version.
This fact is evident even in the movie reviews. In the April
19th issue of Time, movie reviewer Richard Corliss argues
that by ending the film with the battle at San Jacinto
rather than the Alamo, filmmaker Hancock is able to
make the following analogy: “the Alamo was Pearl
Harbor, San Jacinto was World War II, and Houston was
an early Eisenhower.” If Houston is analogous to an early
Eisenhower, and the Alamo is comparable to Pearl
Harbor, does that make the Mexican army at the Alamo a
foreign army attacking U.S. soil? Such a comparison
brings to life Juan Seguin’s famous lament that after
Texas independence, Tejanos became “foreigners in their
native land." Is this what we are to remember from the
re- telling of the Alamo story- that Mexicans are
foreigners?
Ever since the defeat of Americans, most of who had
been in Texas less than six months, at the Battle of the
Alamo, “remember the Alamo” has been a battle cry with
tragic consequences for Mexicans. Remembering the
Alamo became a way for Americans to justify the taking
of Mexican territory. It became a way to validate the
murders of Mexicans. Americans yelled it at the Battle of
San Jacinto as they attacked the Mexican army. In the
mid- 1840s, it was a battle cry that stirred white men to
join the army that would invade Mexico.
If the first message is that Mexicans are fundamentally
foreigners and enemies, even in Mexican Texas, the
second message is that Americans are engaged in a war
against Mexicans. The Alamo website announces, “In one
of the greatest battles of history, one side will fight
without soldiers.” The image of untrained, yet patriotic,
American (specifically Anglo) citizens serving as soldiers
against the menacing Mexican threat echoes the
sentiments of Ranch
Rescue, a volunteer
organization that
describes itself as
“composed of
people who believe
that when
government fails or
refuses to act,
individual Citizens
are obligated to act
on their own.”
Their website
features a George
W. Bush “quote of the 21st century” that could well have
come from the lips of one of the Alamo’s defenders.
"Every American is a soldier, and every citizen is in this
fight." To the volunteers of Ranch Rescue, who are
featured on their web site in military garb, the fight
against Mexican immigrants is clearly one of the great
battles of history. The message pervades our society in
6 2004.
Today, “remember the Alamo” is a battle cry that
conservatives are using to warn about the collapse of
Western culture. Charging that Disney is a “leftist”
corporation for portraying the “heroes” of the Alamo as
less than heroic, B. Forrest Clayton writes that, "Heroes
such as Davy Crockett must be vigorously defended by all
patriotic Americans in the culture war. They represent
Western culture. To sit back and allow them to be
desecrated is an injustice to American students and a
recipe for disaster for the future of the country." Clayton,
a fellow at Freedom Alliance, a non- profit organization
founded by Oliver North, warns Americans, “We must
defend these heroes or else the edifice we call our culture
will collapse, and then we shall all surely fall into the
darkness of the abyss.” Clayton criticizes the filmmakers
for portraying Mexicans as “noble heroes.”
PART II: Dreaming in English: The Mexican Threat
To Samuel Huntington, Chairman of the Harvard
Academy of International and Area Studies and co-
founder of the journal Foreign Policy, Mexicans are
indeed a threat. In his controversial article, “The Hispanic
Challenge,” he writes, "In this new era, the single most
immediate and most serious challenge to America's
traditional identity comes from the immense and
continuing immigration from Latin America, especially
from Mexico, and the fertility rates of these immigrants
compared to black and white American natives."
(Foreign Policy, March/April 2004) The discourse that
emphasizes Mexicans as threatening hordes waiting just
beyond the walls to enter “American soil” is as old as the
Alamo, but as dangerous today as it was in 1836.
Huntington has an impressive academic biography. He is
a professor at Harvard, former president of the American
Political Science Association and served at the White
House Coordinator of Security Planning between 1977-
78. He is the author of nine books, including The Clash of
Civilizations and Remaking of World Order (1996),
which argues that Western culture (which he defined in a
1997 interview as “United States, North America, and
Europe, Western Europe,” ironically including Mexico)
would soon face a tremendous challenge from Islam. The
book became a best seller following 9- 11. His new book
Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National
Identity is scheduled to appear in May. His academic
credentials make his speculative, often unsupported,
arguments even more chilling. His access to media
creates credibility.
Huntington’s entire argument is based on the premise of
an “Anglo- Protestant” United States that simply cannot
tolerate immigrants who refuse to “assimilate.” And,
according to Huntington, the most dangerous immigrants
today are Mexican. “The Hispanic Challenge” could
easily be re- titled “The Mexican Threat.” He singles out
Mexicans early on in the article, and then keeps the heat
on throughout. Even when speaking of heavily Cuban
populated Miami, Huntington uses it only as a cautionary
example of how this may be the dreaded “future for Los
Angeles and the southwest United States.”
According to Huntington, Mexican immigration differs
from previous immigrations in substantial ways: First,
Mexico is contiguous to the United States; Mexican
immigrants do not have to cross an ocean to reach the
United States. Mexican immigration is at a larger scale,
more persistent, and increasingly illegal, than previous
immigrations. Mexicans are regionally concentrated. And
Mexican immigrants tend to maintain their culture and
language. It is these differences that make Mexican
immigration a fundamental threat to a unified United
States.
Much of his argument rests on the use of circumstantial
evidence and anecdotes. Much of it is ahistorical. For
example, Huntington asserts that most Americans see the
Declaration of Independence “as the crucial element of
their national identity.” The Declaration, or “creed” as he
continually refers to it as, is “the product of the distinct
Anglo- Protestant culture of the founding settlers.” This
Anglo- Protestant culture, Huntington would have us
believe, is the basis, or “bedrock” of U.S. identity. Rather
than being a unique testament to the values of the
“founding settlers,” however, the Declaration of
Independence was based on theories of natural rights
developed throughout Europe by philosophers a century
earlier. These philosophers, in turn, carried on ideas
passed down from Roman law and Greek ideas of virtue.
So why the hard push to have us believe that the United
States was founded on ideals unique to the British settlers
of the original thirteen colonies?
Huntington wants to draw a line in the
sand, literally almost, between Mexicans
and what he believes to be true followers
of “the American dream created by an
Anglo- Protestant society.” The threat is
there, he tells us, because Mexican
immigration shows “no signs of
tapering,” and that “Mexican immigrants
have been poor, unskilled, and poorly
educated.” Add this to the apparent
unwillingness to conform to “Anglo-
Protestant culture,” and it would indeed
seem that a dangerous group of
“foreigners” and “immigrants” are
building up in the Southwest.
However, let’s be clear on what he
means by “Anglo- Protestant culture.”
Huntington is talking about English
(which hasn’t been spoken properly in the United States
for the longest time), Christianity (to the exclusion of
others), and the “American Dream,” which is to say
capitalism. When Huntington says, “There is no
Americano dream,” he means that the only way for
immigrants and the children of immigrants to succeed is
by assimilating themselves and giving up their culture,
heritage, native language, and all former allegiances.
“There is only the American dream created by an Anglo-
Protestant society,” Huntington states firmly. “Mexican
Americans will share in that dream and in that society
only if they dream in English.”
In the end, Huntington says, a nation with two languages,
two cultures, “would not necessarily be the end of the
world; it would be, however, the end of the America we
have known for more than three centuries.” He argues
that the consolidation of “Mexican- dominant areas of the
United States into an autonomous, culturally and
linguistically distinct, and economically self- reliant bloc
within the United States” would be dangerous be to the
balance that once existed within the borders of the great
melting pot.
PART III: Retelling an old story?
Samuel P. Huntington’s fears are nothing new. Mexi-
phobic and anti- immigrant views are historically the stuff
of political campaigns and scholarly debates. Anti-
immigrant rhetoric pervades our history as does the 7

Voz Readers:
Here are a couple of historical
facts that illustrate the
Mexiphobia that still impacts
the lives of Mexicans, Chicanos
and Latinos today:
Josepha, 1851
Part of the Anglo fear of
Mexicans, as with Negroes,
was based on the alleged
sexual prowess of the darker-
skinned people. The “greaser”
women were supposedly
corrupting the white men. In
the mining country of central
California, a prostitute named
Josepha was hanged by an
angry mob after a passion
death occurred in which she
was involved.
The historian H.H. Bancroft
lists an extraordinary number
of Mexicans who were
whipped or lynched to death
during the 1850s.
“Between 1850 and 1930, for
example, the number of
Mexican Americans killed in
the Southwest exceeded the
number of black lynchings in
the south.” (Moquin & Va n
Doren, 1972).
8 They may be contacted at leyvacolumn@aol.com
celebration of Anglo Protestant American “civilization.” Huntington’s arguments
echo back to turn of the century arguments such as those made by men like
Madison Grant. In 1916, Grant, a Yale graduate and lawyer, published the
best selling The Passing of the Great Race, which, like Huntington talked about
the threat to Anglo Protestant American culture by growing immigration. In
What Huntington Can’t See
Chapter IV, Grant wrote, “Where two distinct species are located side by side
history and biology teach that but one of two things can happen; either one
by Dr. Julio No b o a
race drives the other out, as the Americans exterminated the Indians, or as the
Negroes are now replacing the whites in various parts of the South; or else they
The same man who brought to the common vernacular the phrase before English. It was in the Spanish language that countless ranches,
amalgamate and form a population of race bastards in which the lower type
“clash of civilizations” has once again found clever ways to simplify towns, cities, schools, churches, printing presses, and court systems
ultimately preponderates.” The American public believed it: it was written by an
and exaggerate the inevitable conflicts arising from sharing this earth were established throughout the American Southwest long before
educated man, after all. At the turn of the century, many educated men warned
with different cultures. This time, in the March-April issue of Foreign English made its first appearance there.
that American civilization was under attack because of immigration. Policy magazine, Samuel P. Huntington, respected Harvard scholar,
focuses his lens on the rising Hispanic presence in our nation, and as Having a long history of contributions, Latinos are increasingly
That the publication of Huntington’s article coincided with the release of the usual, sees mostly danger, threat and another “clash of civilizations.” engaged in every aspect of our nation’s life. We hardly constitute a
latest version of the Alamo is coincidence. Yet, the two are united in a common threat to the well-being of America by virtue of maintaining our rich
history of vilifying Mexicans. Both appear at a time when the United States is Advertised by a cover picture of a clean cut, suited, dark-skinned cultural traditions and speaking an additional second language as well
changing demographically. Latinos are a rapidly increasingly segment of the Mexican American man, and the phrase, “José can’t you see?”, as English. In fact, Latinos are learning English, and forgetting
nation. And while Huntington argues that the regional concentration of Mexican Huntington’s article, The Hispanic Challenge, is full of demographic Spanish, more rapidly with every succeeding generation. Latinos are
immigrants is one of the threats to U.S. culture, in reality Mexican immigrants and socioeconomic facts but empty of cogent interpretations of these becoming increasingly Americanized not only here but also in their
are dispersing throughout the United States in increasing numbers. factual realities. home countries.
Both The Alamo and Huntington reinforce American fears of Mexicans. When Huntington picks and chooses Another glaring error of omission
newly arrived Euro- Americans rebuilt the tumbling walls of the old mission in his “facts” very carefully, committed by Huntington is to
preparation for the coming of Mexicans, it was a foreshadowing of other walls. deliberately leaving out some ignore the dual oppression
In contemporary times, the U.S. has continued to build walls “to keep out the key information that would Latinos have endured both here
Mexicans,” including the 20 mile wall going out to the ocean that separates have a decisive impact on how and in their native lands. Here,
we understand the realities of Latinos were and still are
Tijuana and San Diego and the human walls of Border Patrol Officers under
Operation Hold the Line in Texas, Operation Gatekeeper in California, and Latino history in our nation. discriminated in such vital areas
Operation Safeguard in Arizona. as housing, health, education,
There are several major errors and employment. They have
Why is vilifying Mexicans so acceptable, on the movie screen and in academic in Huntington’s thesis that confronted these injustices for
Hispanics are creating their decades and formed viable
texts? Why are we so willing to believe that the Americans at the Alamo were
own separate culture within organizations and developed
fighting for freedom? Why would the American public take seriously
the United States, one that will outstanding leaders in their
Huntington’s assertion that, “Mexican immigration is a unique, disturbing, and
challenge, change, and erode struggle for equality. Latinos
looming challenge to our cultural integrity, our national identity, and potentially prevailing Anglo American have fought hard to obtain the full
to our future as a country.” (“Reconsidering Immigration: Is Mexico a Special values. While I’m not benefits of American citizenship;
Case?,” Center for Immigration Studies, November 2000.) Until our society disturbed by the reality that it was not handed to them on a
comes to accept the complexity of history rather than the easy answers provided Latinos, as other ethno racial silver platter.
by writers like Huntington, their versions of reality will remain palatable to minorities, have profoundly
many. Just as we must take into account that the “freedom” Americans fought influenced American culture, On the other hand, their home
for at the Alamo included the freedom to plant slavery in Texas, we must look Huntington sees only countries have been frequently
realistically at Mexican immigration. In what ways have U.S. economic policies, irreconcilable differences and invaded, occupied, exploited, and
including NAFTA, displaced Mexican workers? In what ways have U.S. destructive cultural conflicts. reduced to colonial status by the
employers, and consumers, benefited from the increasing migration of Mexicans United States acting as an
to this country? His gravest error is to ignore the long history and tradition both imperial power. These interventions, and the resulting exacerbation
Latinos and their Spanish language have had in what is now the United of poverty and dislocation, are one big reason why Puerto Ricans,
In times of economic crisis and in times of war, the line between “us” and States. Latinos have made seminal contributions to this nation, for Mexicans, and Central Americans have come to America. In short,
“them” becomes hardened. Our job is to make sure that those lines are not example, fighting and dying in our wars, and winning the highest before we came to America, Dr. Huntington, America came to us!
number of military honors for courage under fire. Not mentioned by
drawn. Our task is to see the complexity of the world in which we live. Perhaps,
in these times of increasing Mexi- phobia, and anti- immigrant rhetoric filled with Huntington are any of the specific contributions Latinos have made as It’s obvious that with all his facts and figures, Huntington has stacked
misinformation and unsupported assumptions, we can turn to Huntington’s own workers, musicians, artists, educators, statesmen, leaders, writers, the deck with only those which bolster his twisted, paranoid
scholars, scientists, journalists, sportsmen, and entrepreneurs. And arguments. What is truly dangerous to our nation is that his ideas
words: “Partial truths or half- truths are often more insidious than total
falsehoods.” It is time to expose the insidiousness. all these contributions to America were done from the context of our should be promoted and foment more hatred and misunderstanding,
bilingual bicultural lifestyle which Huntington nevertheless views as thus fulfilling his own fearful prophecies of cultural doom.
an inherently threatening.
Yolanda Chávez Leyva lives in Texas and is a historian specializing in border, Chicana/o,
Twice he uses the example of Asians, who unlike Latinos, do not tend
and public histories. José Miguel Leyva lives in Oregon and is a freelance writer and novelist.
to maintain their native language. But, unlike any Asian language or Dr. Julio Noboais an educator, columnist and
culture, Spanish was spoken in what is the U. S. at least a century longtime supporter of La Voz. 9
 On “The Fourth World War:”
An Arab American Perspective from San Antonio
As Arab Americans, we see our struggle on two related fronts,
on a local and national level and on an international level.
Locally and nationally, there is an urgent need to address the
backlash that has materialized against the
Arab American community after September
11th. This backlash manifests itself in the
form of hate crimes, civil rights violations
inscribed in the so called “Patriot Act,”
discrimination, racial profiling, stereotyping,
hate speech and vilification of Arabs and Arab
Americans in the mass media- both, in the
news media and the entertainment industry.
The other challenge facing us is that of
American foreign policy in the Middle East,
specifically, the U.S. occupation of Iraq and
the U.S. role in supporting and funding the
Israeli occupation of Palestine.
But our local and international concerns are
intimately related to one another. What goes
on in the Middle East and its relation to
American foreign policy in that region can not
be separated from the daily lives and the fate
of the Arab American community in the
United States; not only because a lot of Arab
Americans have relatives and friends that live
in the Middle East, but also because the
media coverage of the conflicts in the area,
which is done in sound bites, does not afford
people a thorough and accurate understanding of the
situation. The way Arabs are commonly portrayed as innately
violent, terrorists, unreasonable, backward, misogynistic, etc.
determines, to a large extent, the way Arabs are perceived in
the minds of many Americans who then project these largely
negative perceptions on Arabs Americans living amongst
them.
Our role as Arab American activists is to educate our local
communities in the United States about our region and
culture, providing a source of information that is missing from
our mainstream media. We also need to raise awareness of
what’s going on the Middle East and promote a better
understanding of the history and origin of the conflicts and
their current manifestations, especially with respect to the
Israeli Palestinian conflict and Iraq. In other words, we have
to combat a lot of the misconceptions and myths that have
dominated the media coverage and thus the public’s
understanding of the peoples and societies of the Middle East.
Some of the major themes that were addressed in the film,
“The Fourth World War,” such as economic or corporate
globalization, neoliberalism and empire are of course related
10 to local activism for social and economic justice and the anti-
war effort in San Antonio. The idea of the fourth world war as
a system beyond national borders that has marginalized and
oppressed poor people, working class people and indigenous
peoples all over the world in
order to increase the power
and profit of multi-national
corporations that neither
identify with national borders
nor respect national
sovereignty makes even more
sense in light of the Halliburton
contracts for example. I do not
mean to oversimplify the
motivation behind the war in
Iraq and say it is just about oil;
but at the same time, we can
not ignore that aspect of the
conflict. The result of the
American war on Iraq has been
the conquest of territories and
an attempt to reorganize this
territory and administer it in a
way that will ensure that the
spoils of war will go to the
victorious party even after the
transfer of power to the Iraqis
takes place.
The Israeli Palestinian conflict
was also a focal point in the film. Many Arabs and Arab
Americans see the state of Israel as a colonial settler state
that has been engaged in a systematic effort to displace the
Palestinians, the indigenous people of the country, giving
their lands to settlers, mostly from Europe and the United
States. The latest manifestation of this displacement has been
the result of the apartheid wall that Israel is building on
Palestinian land thus displacing more Palestinian farmers and
peasants and depriving them of their agricultural lands. I was
especially reminded of this at one point in the film when, in
the context of the struggle in Chiapas, Mexico, we are told
that 600 Mexican peasants are displaced from their lands on a
daily basis.
Being confronted by a system, which is what the fourth world
war seems to be, makes it difficult to identify an enemy. It is
beyond the governments of specific countries. We see that
clearly illustrated in the South African struggle. South African
activists remind us in the film that they rose against the
apartheid government, defeated it and achieved political
liberation only to discover that the “enemy” preventing their
economic liberation lies, in one instance, in institutions like
the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank,
which have imposed on them the privatization of some of the
The Cantina
at the Alamo
by Bárbara Renaud González
It was the role of a lifetime, my sister said.
She was discovered! To play a cantinera in the Alamo
movie with Billy Bob Thornton! Three days of walking
among stars! Her name in lights!
Honey, loooook! The Alamo!
Say the tourists, most of them white, sweaty, cameras
bouncing, capturing that Kodak moment of a loss that was a
victory.
For them.
While the brown people walk by as extras in a movie.
Except at night when the tourists get scared of the razita from
the Westside chillin‚ in front of the McDonald’s. San
Antonio is a city of two worlds. One for the tourists. Another
for the people like my sister who’s so excited to be noticed
by the cameras for once. Action!
The Alamo is surrounded by one of the poorest cities in the
country. We don’t have one real bookstore downtown, not
that it matters on the famous River Walk where we have the
best cactus-ritas you’ve ever tasted! There’s no light rail to
get there either from the PGA-golf resort the developers want
to build on the Edwards Aquifer, the city’s only source of
drinking water. But who needs water when we drink so
much cerveza? It’s just not a skinny coincidence that we
are one of the fattest cities in the country, también.
If I could make a movie of the Alamo, would have you listen
to the alma of San Antonio, following the river that keeps
calling us to the past, witness to my grandmother’s Spanish
most basic services, like water and electricity. Thus, one is
led to believe that change is difficult, if not impossible. As
one activist, evoking the Argentinean experience, reminds us
in the film, the government will try to instill fear and use
nefarious tactics to terrorize activists who work for change.
We see a somewhat similar scenario today in the United
States where our views as Arab Americans and our struggle
for a fair American foreign policy in the Middle East has
become increasingly suspect in the wake of the attacks of
9/11. We recognize however that it is a form of intimidation;
the government wants to intimidate us into silence,
morning prayers, an embroidery of iron balconies and stone
walls, bougainvillea blossoming into pink-fire; seductive as
the paletas con chile outside the old Catedral, like the first
whisperings of love, finding the accordion under the native
pecan trees that saw the labor organizer Emma Tenayuca go
to jail in the thirties for demanding a decent wage for my
abuelos.
How the Alamo has divided us.
And then I would tell you about Tejano R&B jamming.
Tuesday nights on the black side of town. The
neighborhoods demolished, but a Despedida college
graduation ceremony with mariachis and proud
grandparents. While their children’s children, all hues and
stripes, with names like Daisy, Nadia, Xochitl and Astro, go
marching to protest the current Alamo in the Middle East,
jasmine flowers in their spiked-up hair.
It’s like we keep trying to remember what we should be
forgetting. And forgetting what we need to remember. So
that the stories of our crossings and corazones finding each
other - birthing a new language and people - are lost in that
grotesque monument to death.
While my sister, rebozo-wrapped, long brown hair and
smiling, waits in that cantina - a knife hidden under her skirt.
Like a story that cuts to the heart.
La Barbara is a free lance writer in San Antonio, Texas whose articles
appear de vez en cuando in the San Antonio Express-News, if we’re
lucky, and in major publications throughout the U.S.
we are defeated soldiers in an invincible war (ernesto cardenal)
acquiescence and obedience. As one of the narrators in the
film says, invoking the imagery of the Palestinian Intifada at
its best, “we will always be free in our minds, and our refusal
to obey and submit will be a stone against their tanks.”
Nadine G. Saliba was born in Lebanon and immigrated with her
family to the States in 1993. She has a BA in Political Science from
UTSA and is a graduate student in Political Theory and International
Relations at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. 11
 San Francisco based writer/photojournalist,
David Bacon, will discuss his new book,
“Children of NAFTA.”

Mr. Bacon along with a panel of labor organizers will

by Josie Méndez-Negrete discuss the ravaging effects of NAFTA & Free
Trade. Panelists include Martha Ojeda (Coalition
--Mental illness is all around us. We just don’t allow ourselves to see it. for Justice in the Maquiladoras), Petra Mata (Fuerza Unida),
Sr. Susan Mika (Benedictine Sisters) & Carmen Julia
--When we suspect it’s in our midst, we pretend it’s not there.
Silva (maquiladora worker organizaer from
--Complicit in our compulsion for normalcy, we make the mentally ill invisible. Reduce them to shadows, as if their DURO, Río Bravo, Mexico).
illness was of their own doing, as if it was of their own making that they have become society’s discards.

--Then, there are those times we let ourselves feel bad. Other times, we ignore them in our midst. And, to humanize
ourselves, we reluctantly give them handouts.
May 4th 2004
7-9 pm
--Demonized by the media, as crazed murderers who go berserk, with only their presence the mentally ill give us at Esperanza Center
reasons to ignore their plight, as they deal with their madness in the squalor of poverty.
922 San Pedro For information call 228-0201
--We fail to see that once hidden inside their child’s mind were aspirations for greatness—to be writers, lawyers,
doctors, and poets. Their dreams have dissipated with their illness. The brilliance they carry, as they walk the streets
making sense of their internal voices, is only for them to hear.

--Lost inside their internal worlds, we imagine them as unfeeling and unloving. We fail to recognize their prayer for
May is recognized across our nation as Mental Health
love, as they fend off the loneliness and the isolation, as they contend with other’s mockery. Awareness Month. For those of us struggling with
mental illness it is our opportunity to speak out against
--They bleed, just as we bleed. They hurt, just as we hurt. the stigma and discrimination based on misconceptions
that we encounter on a daily basis.
--Rendered to the margins, hiding in the shadows, fending off judgments cast on them for their illness, the mentally
Mental Health Awareness Month is also the time that
ill deal with their lives as best they can. But, mental illness is not forgiving, it strikes all, without regards to race, class,
we celebrate the advancements made in the treatment
gender or sexual orientation— mental illness is not prejudiced, it does not discriminate. of mental illness. That is why we so adamantly struggle
against stigma and discrimination. Scientific research
--Depression. Anxiety. Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Bipolar personality. Attention-deficit disorder. Attention deficit along with new attitudes towards recovery for the
and hyperactivity disorder. Post-traumatic stress—labels that capture symptoms that dehumanize and mark them. mentally ill disproves the obsolete belief that there is no
hope for the mentally ill. By regaining control of our
illness we attend school, hold down jobs, raise families,
--Insurance companies deny their claims, and the government cuts their benefits. And, the pharmaceuticals that
play music, worship, and many other things that most
produce the mind-numbing drugs that keep the demons away, a multimillion-dollar industry, profit from their pain. people engage in. Thanks to research and dedicated
The only guarantee they have is a ticket to poverty and homelessness. professionals many of us are successfully recovering
from the mental illness that we are afflicted with.
--Mental illness destroys families. It kills spirits. Decimates minds.
Unfortunately, for many of our sisters and brothers
quality treatment is not easily accessible. Discriminatory
attitudes towards them have resulted in draconian cuts
Josie Méndez-Negrete, author of Las Hijas de Juan/Daughters Betrayed published by Chusma House is a professor of sociology at the in the public mental health system. These cuts will
12 University of Texas in San Antonio. She is currently at work on her next book which deals with mental illness.
ultimately lead to broken lives, broken families, lost
productivity, substance abuse, and mentally ill
individuals being incarcerated for petty and some major
crimes. All in all, our political leader’s ignorance will
cause all of us to pay a high price. One can only ask is
it worth the money that the state claims it will save by
cutting the mental health budget?
The mentally ill do not seek charity. We struggle for the
same respect and justice, allotted other citizens of our
nation and of the world. As people become more aware
and understanding of our situation, we are confident
that we will overcome!
“Respect & Justice Through Unity”
Frank Valdez is the Outreach Coordinator for the Alliance
for Mental Health Consumers Rights, a Chapter of Texas
Mental Health Consumers. He is also a social activist
and longtime contributor for La Voz. Frank can be
reached at mentalhealthjustice@yahoo.com
13

Community
Meetings
San Antonio NOW First Monday of
each month at the Resource Ctr, 121
W. Woodlawn. Call Maggie Cronan,
673-8600.
Parents/Friends of Lesbians/
Gays (PFLAG) First Thursday of
each month at 7 pm at the Resource
Ctr, 121 W. Woodlawn, call 655-
2383.
A Multicultural Worship Service is held
Sundays at 11 am at Spirit of Life
Lutheran Church, call Rev. Kay
Johnson at 691-5937 in sanctuary of
Los Angeles Heights Methodist.
Amnesty International #127
Fourth Thursday of each month at
7:30 pm at Ashbury United
Methodist, call 829-0397.
Fuerza Unida at 710 New Laredo
Hwy., Call for information and
meeting times, 927-2297.
Proyecto Hospitalidad Liturgy
Thursdays at 7 pm at 325 Courtland,
call 736-3579.
Habitat for Humanity holds
Volunteer Orientation on first
Tuesdays of each month at 1st
Presbyterian Church, 404 N. Alamo,
rm 302 at 6 pm.
14
Society of Friends Sundays at 10
am at Friends Meeting House, 7052
N. Vandiver, call 945-8456.
S.N.A.P. Survivors Network of
those Abused by Priests meets the
last Wednesday of each month at 7
pm at 1443 S. St. Mary’s, call 725-
8329.
San Anto M.E.X.A, Tuesdays at 6
pm, at the Esperanza Peace & Justice
Center, email mexa@risup.net
Xicana Xicano Education Project
Wednesdays at 6 pm at the Bazan
Public Library, 2200 W. Commerce
St., call 437-5196.
Solidarity: Peer Support for
Mental Health Consumers, First
and Third Saturday monthly, 10:30
am at the Travis Park United
Methodist Church, Rm 210. Call 734-
7527.
Bexar County Green Party First
Sunday of each month at 2 pm at the
Estela’s Mexican Restaurant, 2200 W.
Martin St.
DIGNITY S.A. holds mass every
Sunday at 5:15 pm at St. Ann’s
Convent, call 735-7191.
Clea@ Water -
Clea@ Democracy
Repeal the Deal
Activists have obtained records of the
Lumbermen’s PGA Village
Development Agreement from the City that
indicate that the “current” PGA Village
Development Agreement is illegal. The records
show that the City has continued to give the
people’s money, water, and power to
Lumbermen’s even though the City Council’s
authorization has expired. The “current”
Development Agreement is illegal. City Council
must repeal the Lumbermen’s PGA Village
Development Agreement for good this time!
Let your voice be heard!
¡Agua Pura, Vida Digna!
Call the Esperanza at 228-0201
to join the anti-PGA effort.
Read the June, 2004 Voz for more details.
Notas Y Más
ALLGO (Austin Latina/o Lesbian
Gay Organization) and the
TLC~San Antonio (Texas Lesbian
Conference) present San Franciscan
graphic novelist/performance artist,
Erika López, in the world’s first one-
woman food stamp variety show.
“Nothing Left but the Smell”—
A Republican on Welfare, will be
held on Friday, May 21st at 8 pm at
the ALLGO Tillery Street Theater,
701 Tillery St. in Austin. Tickets are
$5 at Bookwoman & at ALLGO in
Austin. Call ALLGO at 512/472-
2001 for info.
Erika López will also appear with
comic Mimi González in San Antonio
at the Texas Lesbian Conference
on Saturday, May 22nd at 8 pm at
the Adam’s Mark Hotel. Tickets for
the San Antonio event are $15 &
$25 at Candlelight Coffeehouse,
Madhatter’s and at On Main. For
info. See www.TLCSanAntonio.com
or call 532-9821.
The 16th Texas Lesbian
Conference will begin May 21st at
the Adam’s Mark Riverwalk offering
almost 300 women opportunities for
empowerment through information,
conversation and celebration. The
conference continues through May
23rd with a variety of presentations
and workshops. Visit
www.TLCSanAntonio.com or call
210/532-9821 for details.
Between the Lines: From World
War II to 9-11, an exhibit of
woodcut images by New Yorker, Stan
Kaplan, continues through May 23rd
at the StoneMetal Press Gallery,
Blue Star Arts Complex, Upstairs
Bldg. B at 1420 S. Alamo. The
images reflect a deeply emotional and
shared experience, and a cry for
peace and brotherhood. Call the
Press at 227-0312.
When 23-year-old Rachel Corrie was
brutally crushed by an Israeli bulldozer
in March of this year, she was part of
Brief notes to inform La Voz readers about events, issues
and happenings in the community. Send announcements
for Notas y Más to: lavoz@esperanzacenter.org or by
snail mail to: 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212.
The deadline is the 12th of each month.
a movement of non-violent
Palestinian and international citizens
challenging the US-created Israeli
military machine. Live from
Palestine published by South End
Press tells the story of these activists,
armed only with digital cameras and
high-visibility jackets, writing reports
from the frontlines of the occupation,
and from the prisons of Israel. For
info on Live from Palestine,
contact Loie Hayes at 617-547-4002
or www.southendpress.org.
Highway Robbery,
Transportation Racism and
New Routes to Equity, edited by
Robert Bullard, Glenn Johnson and
Angel Torres is also now available
from South End Press. Highway
Robbery shows how, half a century
after the Montgomery bus boycotts,
chronic inequality in public
transportation is firmly and nationally
entrenched, through transportation
policy, and transportation tax dollars.
As the quality of public transportation
services plummets and fares
skyrocket, transit riders across the
country are organizing for
transportation justice, a shared
concern for environmental activists
and social justice groups. For info on
Highway Robbery contact Joey
Fox at 617-547-4002 or
www.southendpress.org
Cine Acción seeks film & video
works that reflect the experiences and
diversity of Latino, Latin American &
Caribbean communities to be
showcased at the 12th Annual
Festival ¡Cine Latino! ™ which
will be held on September 15th
–19th, 2004 at The Victoria Theatre
in San Francisco, CA. We encourage
entries from emerging, independent
and industry filmmakers throughout
the US as well as Latin American
countries Entry deadline for film and
video works is June 1, 2004. For
info contact Cine Acción 415-553-
8135 or info@cineaccion.com.
Palo Alto College offers a free
migrant education program that
addresses the needs of migrant and
seasonal farm workers in pursuit of a
General Education Development
(GED) certificate. The High School
Equivalency Program (HEP), funded
by a U.S. Department of Education
grant, provides an accessible
education and successful attainment
of GED certification. The program
has an open enrollment; students may
register Monday through Friday from
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Ozuna
Learning Resources Center. For
info call Adult Education at 921-5410
or 921-5411.
The residents of St. Peter-St.
Joseph Children’s Home (St.
PJ’s), as part of the Healing Arts
Project, have released an original
rap CD entitled “On the Loose”
featuring 18 original rap songs
written and performed by 21 youth
age eleven to fifteen. The songs
express the lives of children who are
in residential care. The CD is now
available for sale at Espuma
Coffeehouse (928 S. Alamo), Hogwild
Records (1824 N. Main) and the Hip
Hop Shop at the Highway 90 Flea
Market. Proceeds from the sales will
fund extra activities for children at St.
Peter-St. Joseph Children’s
Home. For info contact: Adrienne
Harmon, Healing Arts Project
(210/421-2787) or Rosie García-
Pompa, St. PJs (210/533-1203).
Tlhe Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual
Educator’s Alliance (GLBEA)
comprised of professional educators
primarily from the San Antonio metro
area welcomes all educators who are
looking for a network support group
and identify as gay, lesbian or
bisexual. Email GLBEducators@
yahoo.com or visit http://groups.
yahoo.com/group/GLBEA.
15
 “Stand Up for Freedom - Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself”
In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, civil liberties have again
been seriously endangered. It is up to us, the people, to keep tabs on those asking us to
give up liberty for security. Meet on Thursdays at 7 pm at the Esperanza Center, throughout
the month of May, with other folks like you who are concerned about the Patriot Act’s
impact on our city or come by and sign a petition. Call 228-0201 for info.

Non-Profit Org.
La Voz de Esperanza US Postage
Esperanza peace & justice center PAID
922 San Pedro San Antonio, TX
San Antonio TX 78212 Permit #332

210-228-0201 • fax: 210-228-0000

www.esperanzacenter.org
address SERVICE requested